Sorry, friends, for the delayed post. I was caught up with other issues and needed some time to think and recollect about these questions.
Sita ji, thank you so much about your information on the two mountains. I was confusing them with Nar - Narayan peaks. When I visit Badrinaath, I'll surely observe the ranges around the temple.
Chandra ji, I have not read the ACK edition of Parikshit's story. The information that Parikshit tried to save himself is new to me. I'll read this story when I get my hands on the book. I don't think that death by the hands of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu is the only way to be freed from future births. Since I am not sure of the other stories (I've definitely heard of other ways of being liberated from future births), I'll search for more information on this.
There are lots of side stories to Janamejay's snake sacrifice - The bet between Kadru and Vinata, The liberation of Garuda and Vinata from the snakes, Kadru's curse on her own children - the serpents, A brahmin (I think his name was Udhanka) who instigated Janamejay to perform this sacrifice as he was angry with Takshak for trying to thwart him from his mission. I'll try to post these stories when I get more time.
About Kali Yug - If Parikshit had given the four places for Kali to stay how could he have been present in the gambling and be the cause of Nala to lose all he had. Kali was after Nala's time, if I am not mistaken. Also, I read that the suffering that Nala underwent was caused by Shani Dev - the seven and a half years of severe ill luck that gives a person a very bad time in everything he/she does.
The snakes were the children of Sage Kashyap and one of his wives Kadru. Kadru was the mother of all the snakes - she gave birth to a thousand serpents (whether the 8 great snakes who were known as the king of snakes) were among the thousand or whether there were 1008 altogether, I am not sure.
About the Devas and their earthly relations - I am guessing this time - As the Devas are supposed to stand by Dharma always and not aid anyone for wrong deeds, they did not come to the aid of Vali and Jayant as these two were at fault. But the case of Arjun and Karan was different. Both of them were highly virtuous - Arjun on the side of righteousness and Karan - though on Duryodhan's side was a great soul and stood by his friend for supporting him earlier. I think this is why Devindr supported Arjun and not Jayant or Vali and Surya Dev supported Karan.
About Luv - I read somewhere that a tribe in Lahore named the Lohana tribe claims to be descendants of Luv. Again, I have no proof of this information and it may be entirely false.
